SEGA Dreamcast

SEGA’s Hideki Sato is a big figure in SEGA history, he was the mastermind behind all of SEGA’s major console hardware including the SG-1000, SEGA Master System, SEGA Mega Drive/Genesis, SEGA Saturn and SEGA Dreamcast.He later served as SEGA President from 2001-2003. Earlier this month he was part of an ‘oral history research project’ that is documenting the game industry in Japan. The transcript is over 150 pages long and all in Japanese. I can’t read Japanese, can you?

Well it seems that Gryson on the SEGA-16 boards knows some Japanese and he translated some of his favorite tid-bits, I’ll include the one about how he changed the SEGA Saturn to respond to PlayStation and of course the story about how PlayStation CEO

“Depending on fans request… if we hear more request and its a reasonable business for us then it might happen in the future.” – Haruki Satomi, CEO of SEGA Games

A really cool part of the interview is Haruki Satomi discussing what ‘Nintendo has done right with AR, like Pokemon Go’ (which is weird because Pokemon Go isn’t created by Nintendo), then Satomi goes into talking about SEGA doing VR first back in the mid-90s. While its cool to see CNBC do a interview with Haruki Satomi, I would have loved if they had someone that knows more about SEGA interview him. You know, like us?

The classic 8-bit Commodore 64 Epyx game Barbarian: The Ultimate Warrior, which was later ported to several systems including the BBC Micro and Atari ST, is set to receive a SEGA Dreamcast port. The upcoming port is being handled by Retro Games Ltd, who have acquired the Epyx catalog, so it’s official!

Given the game has seen so many ports, you’re probably wondering which one the Dreamcast is getting. The answer is all of them, as you will be able to switch between the various versions with the press of a button. There will also be a new Dreamcast version with enhanced visuals. The game is also heading to the NES, Atari Jaguar and Genesis/Mega Drive.

Expect a physical Dreamcast release later this year, and in the meantime you can keep up on the project by following the Epyx Facebook page.

We have finally gotten around to talking about all the cool retro SEGA products that Retro-Bit had at this year’s CES 2018. On this episode of the SEGA News Bits we take a look at all the retro SEGA controllers shown at the event, our thoughts on the announced products and even pitch some retro gaming accessories and controllers we’d like to see Retro-Bit create. So give the video a watch and let us know in the comments what you think of all the upcoming retro SEGA controllers.

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Last month we shared the news that Retro-bit would be creating USB, bluetooth and classic controllers for the SEGA Genesis, Saturn and Dreamcast, with the products debuting at CES 2018. Well CES 2018 is happening now, and images of the Retro-bit SEGA products are online! The community section of the RGT 85 Facebook page and Madlittlepixel show us just what we can expect from the new line of products. After the break, let’s check out the images and see what we can see!

Sega Dreamcast: Collected Works, an upcoming book from Read-Only Memory, is the followup to SEGA Mega Drive/Genesis: Collected Works. Successfully backed on Kickstarter late last year, Read-Only Memory sent a new years update to backers and boy is it an exciting one! Read-Only Memory received a large amount of production materials from SEGA of Japan, including several never-before-seen pieces from popular Dreamcast games. Included in the haul are:

Game mechanic sketches, environment concepts and high end renderings for Sonic Adventure

The complete design document for Jet Set Radio/Jet Grind Radio, including some amazing graffiti artwork concepts

A very early proof of concept video for Space Channel 5

Character studies and production artwork for Phantasy Star Online

Storyboards, character designs and environment artworks for Shenmue

Read-Only Memory will spend the coming weeks sorting through all the materials and identifying pieces to include in the book, with the final cut of the book to be laid out in a few months. Also revealed is that photoshoots for the Hardware Showcase chapter of the book will be taking place in the next few weeks, featuring everything from consoles to the fishing controller to the Samba de Amigo maracas. If you’re the proud owner of a Dreamcast hardware rarity you think should make the final cut, please do drop Read-Only Memory a line!

We here at SEGAbits can’t wait to get our hands on the book, and in the meantime we’re working to get Darren Wall of Read-Only Memory back for another Swingin’ Report Show podcast.

Nearly a year ago today, I shared a list of indie games coming to classic SEGA consoles in 2017. While I’m hard at work on a 2018 list, which includes some who didn’t make their 2017 deadline, I wanted to report on the Kickstarter campaign for the upcoming SEGA Mega Drive/Genesis and Dreamcast game Xeno Crisis. Releasing in both physical and digital formats, the game is an arena shooter for up to two platers and takes inspiration from games like Smash TV, Contra, Mercs, Granada, Alien Syndrome, Zombies Ate My Neighbors, Chaos Engine and Shock Troopers. Currently, the game is in the prototype stage and the plan is to release the game in October of 2018 to coincide with the 30th anniversary of the Mega Drive.

The campaign ends in 5 days, and currently they have $68,726 pledged of a $27,038 goal. You can learn more about the project here, and as always with a Kickstarter campaign, read everything carefully before making your mind up on backing or not.

Have you ever played a rerelease of a classic SEGA game and felt that it just didn’t feel quite right with a modern controller? Well we could be seeing classic SEGA controllers for modern hardware soon, as retro gaming hardware manufacturer Retro-bit has announced a collaboration with SEGA. The official press release states that the plan is to produce accessories for SEGA’s platforms which includes, but is not limited to, SEGA Genesis, Saturn and Dreamcast. The first products to be released will include accessories that match the quality of the originals, made for use on original hardware as well as USB for PC use and Bluetooth wireless. These new products will debut in the Innex booth #21023 in the South Hall of the Las Vegas Convention Center during CES 2018.

This is very exciting, as games like Sonic Mania, Jet Set Radio HD and NiGHTS HD all would benefit from the original controllers. Also, the notion of a new Dreamcast pad for original hardware being made in 2018 is just sort of crazy and cool. Also, new USB Saturn pads would be amazing.

Via The Dreamcast Junkyard comes a cool bit of behind the scenes history on SEGA’s final home console. The Sega Dreamcast Software Creation Standards Guidebook was sent to the site by an anonymous former Dreamcast developer, and features 136 pages of standards set by SEGA for the development of software for the Dreamcast. While the document is a bit dry in how it presents information, there is some cool pieces of information contained within. For example, the document instructs developers how to hide the pause menu and which controller ports should allow the use of the keyboard. The rules contained within answer why so many different games from different teams have the same button combinations and features.

Back in March we shared the news that indie Dreamcast developer Senile Team, creators of Rush Rush Rally Racing and Beats of Rage, were working on a platformer titled Intrepid Izzy. Now, it looks like the team plans to bring the game to Dreamcast, PC and (should they hit a stretch goal) PlayStation 4 via a Kickstarter campaign. With a €35,000 goal ($41,268), they still have a ways to go having just hit the 10% mark.

On 9/9/1999 the SEGA Dreamcast released in North America, and now 18 years later we’re still talking about it. On this SEGA News Bits, we celebrate the birthday of SEGA’s final home console by recommending the best exclusives, looking at the indie games released in 2017 and looking ahead to what indie games are coming in 2018 and beyond!

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On this episode of the SEGA News Bits we discuss the Top 100 SEGA Games list we posted up earlier this month, so if you haven’t checked it out give it a gander. Join us to listen to us rant about how the list was put together, which games surprised us on the list, which games didn’t make the list, how SEGA games are under-appreciated on other top gaming lists, and much more. Sadly we don’t cover all the top 100 SEGA games that are represented on the list, that would take too long, but I hope the games we talked about was entertaining enough. Let us know if you agree or disagree with the top 100 SEGA games list and what your top three SEGA games would be in the comments below.

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The 2017 Game Developers Conference is just a little over a month away, and just last week it was announced that Japanese game designer Yoot Saito is set to host a behind-the-scenes look at the hit Dreamcast game Seaman in a Classic Game Postmortem. Yes, that’s right, I said “hit”. Despite the quirky nature of Seaman, it went on to become one of the most popular Dreamcast games in Japan – even outselling Shenmue!

The postmortem is set to be an hour long, and given Saito’s unique ideas for games it is sure to be an incredibly interesting discussion. The conference runs from February 27 to March 3, and date and time for the Seaman postmortem are still to be determined. You can learn more about the postmortem and GDC 2017 here.

With the holiday season approaching, Sony and Microsoft are pushing their latest upgraded consoles to the masses meaning a lot of money is being spent on advertising. One ad which caught my attention was a recent Xbox One S commercial dubbed “Portals”. The ad kicks off with the new white console and then has the camera fly inside the machine to pass through several rectangular portals, each portal containing a game’s universe. There are a few moments where they cut away to people playing the Xbox One S before jumping back inside the machine to show some more video game universes before pulling out and showing the console once again. Cool ad right? I swear I’ve seen this before.

17 years ago saw the launch of the Dreamcast in North America on September 9th 1999. We’ll be taking a look at games that launched day and date with the system and share our memories with SEGA’s last major console.